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cassidy_rain's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
“I can see her every night,” Teddy says. “She sleeps under my bed so I can hear her singing.”
Okay, I had some theories but I did NOT see that coming. What a perfect, spooky fall read! Hidden Pictures is a paranormal mystery. It follows Mallory, she’s working on getting her life back together and maintaining her sobriety when she has the opportunity to become a nanny for one child, Teddy, for the summer before he goes off to school. The family seems super empathic to her situation and she gets along great with Teddy so she’s hired right away. Things get interesting when Teddy starts mentioning his imaginary friend and drawing some strange and disturbing pictures. Is he just a child with a busy imagination or is something more sinister going on?
This story grabbed my attention from the first pages and I flew through it in nearly one sitting. The characters and storyline are so good! Mallory is flawed but I loved her as a character and was rooting for her so deeply. You can feel her frustration through the pages as she tries to uncover the mystery. I also adored Adrian and the fact that she has somebody on her side. Teddy is also a great character and the addition of his actual drawings is SO fun and immersive, like you’re helping solve the mystery. At first glance this feels kind of predictable; I thought I had everything figured out about the 50% mark and was sorely mistaken. There’s a lot of paranormal elements, which isn’t always my thing, but I think it’s done in a way that feels very realistic (rather than in a horror way). Highly recommend!
Okay, I had some theories but I did NOT see that coming. What a perfect, spooky fall read! Hidden Pictures is a paranormal mystery. It follows Mallory, she’s working on getting her life back together and maintaining her sobriety when she has the opportunity to become a nanny for one child, Teddy, for the summer before he goes off to school. The family seems super empathic to her situation and she gets along great with Teddy so she’s hired right away. Things get interesting when Teddy starts mentioning his imaginary friend and drawing some strange and disturbing pictures. Is he just a child with a busy imagination or is something more sinister going on?
This story grabbed my attention from the first pages and I flew through it in nearly one sitting. The characters and storyline are so good! Mallory is flawed but I loved her as a character and was rooting for her so deeply. You can feel her frustration through the pages as she tries to uncover the mystery. I also adored Adrian and the fact that she has somebody on her side. Teddy is also a great character and the addition of his actual drawings is SO fun and immersive, like you’re helping solve the mystery. At first glance this feels kind of predictable; I thought I had everything figured out about the 50% mark and was sorely mistaken. There’s a lot of paranormal elements, which isn’t always my thing, but I think it’s done in a way that feels very realistic (rather than in a horror way). Highly recommend!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Drug use, Blood, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting
Minor: Child death, Gun violence, Infertility, Racism, and Car accident
lulibooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Infertility, Racism, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder
ravensalwaysreading's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.5
Too many plotholes and strange character interactions. What idiot tells a pair of murderers that she knew they had murdered? The main character was incredibly shallow from a writing aspect and as a person. Manic pixie dream girl except a vapid Christian version.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Fatphobia, Racism, Transphobia, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
mapofthesoul's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I...did not care for the weird racism and transphobia, or the conservative dogwhistle stuff.
Content Warnings
Minor: Drug abuse, Racism, Transphobia, and Trafficking
joxinabox's review against another edition
Full of Alt-Right dogwhistles with a transphobic as hell twist. And yes, just because they don't outright say the word "Transgender" doesn't mean it's not transphobic. "Two leftist parents force the child they kidnapped to identify as a different gender" is obviously transphobic. Along with the comments about explaining Nonbinary identities being on the same level as explaining anal sex to a child? Yeah, not subtle. I really don't think it's a coincidence that any "good guy" in the book is explicitly Christian and racist snide comments are ignored and treated as quirky. I could go on. Absolute garbage.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Racism, Transphobia, and Xenophobia
All tags above are explicit and are outright condoned by the text. A racist character is treated as a quirky cat lady and [spoilers but not that you should care]lauren_cox98's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Really good. Chilling and thrilling. I did not call the ending…at all. Only reason I can’t do 5 stars is SO MANY modern references, and that always takes me out of a story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Racism
nrogers_1030's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Kidnapping, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Infertility, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, and Alcohol
brookey8888's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This was good, but it wasn’t as good as I was expecting it to be. I didn’t find it creepy at all. which is a bummer. I really did like the art work included and thought that was a unique idea. I just don’t think the plot twist was well done because there’s no way you could have guessed a lot of that. Especially the Ted just being so absolutely in love with Mallory? Like that was stupid. Also I don’t know the trans situation just left a bad taste in my mouth. Also the ending? Idk I just didn’t love that. As for the ghost, I just wanted more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting
claireandreese's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I've been reading a lot of college romances lately, so this book was definitely a refresher. The story was super fast paced and I didn't see the ending coming. However, I feel that it was so out of nowhere, it made me go "huh."
My favorite part of the book was all the added illustrations. It really added to the horror and spooky vibes of the book. The last chapter tried to leave a final bow on these characters but still left me unsatisfied.
There's a few underlying issues that I didn't like that would have made this book a five star. The FMC continuously makes comments about other characters weight. I think there are many other issues that deal with the FMCs relationship to religion and the family's Christianity.i would agree with other reviewers that Mallory's drug addiction was merely a device used so that the Maxwells and the readers would be distrustful towards her. There are murky waters when it comes to borderline transphobia and the Maxwells being atheists.
My favorite part of the book was all the added illustrations. It really added to the horror and spooky vibes of the book. The last chapter tried to leave a final bow on these characters but still left me unsatisfied.
There's a few underlying issues that I didn't like that would have made this book a five star. The FMC continuously makes comments about other characters weight. I think there are many other issues that deal with the FMCs relationship to religion and the family's Christianity.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Violence
Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, Infertility, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Racial slurs and Racism
the_bookish_babee's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Infertility, Racism, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship